SB3592 mandates that a “local news organization” shall not be sold without giving 120 days written notice to the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, its county government, and “any in-State nonprofit organization in the business of buying local news organizations.”
The Senate passed SB3592 on May 24, 2024, by a vote of 43 to 16. We have assigned pluses to the nays because this bill, which purportedly “helps combat misinformation,” is an egregious violation of freedom of speech and the press, as well as freedom of association and contract. The people are the only censors of their government, and a government that seeks to prevent freedom of speech and the press—by controlling the buying and selling of every “local news organization”—suppresses the only safeguard of the people’s liberty. The American Founders, notably Thomas Jefferson, acknowledged that “God Almighty hath created the mind free” and that “the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions.” The U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights and 14th Amendment were written to protect the “unalienable” right to speak and publish freely, notwithstanding they also reserve to the States the power to prohibit acts that are injurious to others or otherwise incompatible with the happiness and safety of their citizens. Illinois’ blanket law here does not meet the standard.
